Category: Our News

Simone Pedrazzini, Director Quantis Italia commenta: “Le parole sono importanti, non solo nella vita quotidiana, come ci ricordava un grande regista. Alla crescente attenzione, e mobilitazione della società civile verso la sostenibilità, ha fatto eco negli ultimi anni un crescente e positivo impegno di Paesi, organizzazioni e aziende. Per questo motivo crediamo possa essere interessante e di valore approfondire alcune delle parole chiave che si sono andate diffondendo. Dall’incomprensione nasce la possibilità di fraintendimento e quindi il greenwashing; al contrario gli impegni positivi possono essere valorizzati dalla chiarezza espositiva”.

1. Antropocene

L’epoca geologica attuale in cui l’ambiente terrestre, nell’insieme delle sue caratteristiche fisiche, chimiche e biologiche, è fortemente condizionato dagli effetti dell’azione umana. Secondo gli studiosi questa nuova epoca geologica potrebbe essere iniziata alla fine del XVIII secolo, con la prima Rivoluzione Industriale: Antropocene, come indica il nome stesso coniato nel 2000 dal chimico e premio Nobel olandese Paul Crutzen, rappresenta quindi l’era dell’uomo, il periodo in cui gli esseri umani hanno un impatto enorme su tutti gli ecosistemi terrestri. Il report IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) del 9 agosto 2021 ha avvalorato, senza lasciare adito a dubbi, questo impatto: per la prima volta attraverso una scelta lessicale risolutiva, definendo inequivocabile l’influenza delle attività umane sulle concentrazioni aumentate di gas serra nell’atmosfera.

2. Carbon Footprint

Carbon Footprint, o impronta di carbonio è un parametro che quantifica le emissioni di gas a effetto serra (o greenhouse gases, GHGs) causate da un prodotto, da un servizio, da un’organizzazione, da un evento o da un individuo, espresse in tonnellate di CO₂ equivalente.

Nel caso delle aziende, nell’analisi della propria Footprint, è utile ricordare una definizione relativa alla differenza tra lo Scope delle emissioni.

Si definiscono:

• Scope 1 le emissioni dirette di gas serra da parte delle imprese (emissioni derivanti dalla combustione di caldaie, forni o veicoli di proprietà, ecc)
• Scope 2: le emissioni indirette di GHG dovute a elettricità utilizzata per le attività “core” del business, sia legate all’attività produttiva che ai servizi
• Scope 3: tutte le altre emissioni indirette di GHG, conseguenza delle attività dell’azienda, che provengono da fonti non possedute o controllate dall’azienda, in genere come risultato delle attività di fornitori e clienti. In questo scope si trovano ad esempio le emissioni generate alla produzione delle materie prime, la logistica e la fase d’uso e fine vita dei prodotti venduti dall‘azienda.

3. Climate Change Mitigation

La mitigazione del cambiamento climatico (Climate Change Mitigation) si ottiene limitando o prevenendo le emissioni di gas a effetto serra e potenziando le attività che rimuovono questi gas dall’atmosfera.

4. Climate Neutrality

Per Climate Neutrality si intende il processo di raggiungimento di un equilibrio tra le emissioni e l’assorbimento di gas climalteranti in atmosfera. Un concetto simile, ma più vasto rispetto a quello di Carbon Neutrality, che faceva riferimento alla sola anidride carbonica, allargando l’ambito a tutti i GHGs. L’Unione Europea, in linea con gli impegni presi negli Accordi di Parigi del 2015 e ribaditi nella recente COP 26 a Glasgow, si è data l’obiettivo della neutralità climatica entro il 2050 e l’ha posta al centro del Green Deal.

5. Climate Strategy

Per Climate Strategy si intende la definizione di obiettivi basati su una quantificazione puntuale delle proprie emissioni, per attivare un percorso virtuoso, e costruire una tabella di marcia per raggiungerli. Una Climate Strategy indica le tappe di un percorso molto concreto verso la decarbonizzazione ed implica la scelta di azioni e innovazioni da adottare; verifiche da effettuare lungo le catene del valore; cambiamento nei prodotti e modelli di business; implementazione della governance a supporto.

Una volta che un’organizzazione abbia compreso le sue diverse emissioni, identificando quelli che in gergo si chiamano “hotspot”, punti caldi dal punto di vista dell’impatto climatico, potrà impostare una strategia di sostenibilità che cerchi di ridurre questi hotspot: in primis attraverso l’abbattimento, e se possibile l’eliminazione, delle sue emissioni di gas a effetto serra.

6. Net Zero

Una Net-Zero strategy prevede la riduzione attiva delle emissioni nella propria catena del valore e la rimozione unicamente di quella porzione residua di GHG che non possa essere eliminata per raggiungere il bilanciamento tra emissioni e rimozioni entro il 2050. Questo concetto, diversamente dal precedente, coincide con il lessico della “call to action” lanciata da IPCC, già citata, per limitare l’innalzamento delle temperature non oltre 1.5°rispetto all’età pre-industriale. Net zero strategy è un concetto più vasto rispetto a quello di “climate neutral” e che sottende non solo un obiettivo finale (bilancio tra emissioni e rimozioni) ma anche un percorso virtuoso e ben definito per raggiungerlo.

7. Science Based Target Initiative

Si tratta di una partnership tra Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) e World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) che si ripromette di dare corpo, a livello aziendale, agli impegni presi durante gli Accordi di Parigi per il contenimento dell’innalzamento delle temperature a + 1.5°rispetto all’età pre-industriale.

Aderire a SBTI significa dapprima mappare la situazione corrente delle emissioni legate all’attività aziendale, impegnarsi pubblicamente per garantire che la propria Climate Strategy sia in linea con gli obiettivi scientifici, aderendo ad un framework internazionalmente condiviso, con obiettivi analoghi per aziende paragonabili per dimensione o settori.

Soprattutto con riferimento ai due termini che seguono, cruciali ma di interpretazione molto variabile tra diverse fonti abbiamo scelto di privilegiare il lessico appunto di SBTI, che ha adottato per il 2022 un lessico particolarmente efficace e volutamente polarizzante.

8. Riduzione

Ridurre significa evitare la generazione, nella fase produttiva di beni, servizi ed energia, di gas ad effetto serra (GHG). In inglese viene definita Abatement (riduzione nella propria value chain).

L’IPCC ha sottolineato la necessità di dare priorità a profonde riduzioni delle emissioni di CO₂ (41-58% entro il 2030 e 91-95% entro il 2050) nonché alle riduzioni delle emissioni di metano (CH₄) e protossido di azoto (ON₂).

9. Compensazione

Con il termine italiano compensazione facciamo riferimento a due tipologie di intervento: interventi di rimozione (Neutralization in inglese), che hanno l’obbiettivo di rimuovere la CO₂ dall’atmosfera e stoccarla in maniera permanente, oppure interventi di “evitamento”, che significa riduzione delle emissioni al di fuori della propria value chain (in inglese Avoidance) ovvero il finanziamento di interventi che aiutino altri a ridurre le loro emissioni.

I progetti di rimboschimento, molto noti e popolari, fanno parte di questa categoria; con compensazione si intende spesso anche fare riferimento all’acquisto di “crediti” di CO₂ sul mercato “volontario”,  secondo le definizioni previste dal Protocollo di Kyoto entrato in vigore nel 2005. A diverse categorie di compensazione, come visto sopra, faranno riferimento crediti di diversa qualità.

Altri esempi? Processi di stoccaggio del carbonio, ma anche di ripristino del territorio, di ecosistemi quali torbiere, foreste terrestri o mangrovie. La logica è quella del reintegro di risorse ambientali depauperate con risorse equivalenti: sono molto diffusi anche progetti di creazione di habitat umidi o di salvaguardia della biodiversità, ma richiedono un attento monitoraggio perché il loro effetto positivo potrebbe, ad esempio, dispiegarsi nel medio-lungo periodo, in un orizzonte temporale diverso rispetto al danno ambientale che intendono “pareggiare”.

Lo standard SBTI al proposito sottolinea, rispetto a quelle misure che le aziende adottano per rimuovere il carbonio dall’atmosfera e immagazzinarlo in modo permanente, la necessità di fare ricorso alla compensazione solo per controbilanciare l’impatto di quelle emissioni che rimangono invariate, dopo avere implementato profonde azioni di riduzione (vedi #8).

10. Greenwashing

Greenwashing è un neologismo composto dalle parole green (ecologico) e whitewash (insabbiare, nascondere qualcosa). Con questo termine si indica l’insieme di strategie di comunicazione e iniziative marketing – attuate da aziende, organizzazioni o istituzioni politiche – finalizzate a costruire un’immagine green, allo scopo di distogliere l’attenzione dell’opinione pubblica dagli effetti negativi per l’ambiente, dovuti alle attività o ai prodotti dell’impresa stessa. Il greenwashing può essere volontario o involontario, legato alla mancata comprensione degli impatti reali di una scelta aziendale rispetto alla “big picture”, al quadro di riferimento ben più ampio degli effetti dell’intera attività produttiva sull’ambiente, che si ottiene invece con una precisa mappatura degli “hotspot” ambientali.

10+1.Planetary Boundaries

La definizione di Planetary Boundaries, i “confini planetari”, fa riferimento ad un modello scientifico recente (2009) che prese le mosse dal celebre “The limit of Growth” del Club di Roma (1972) e ne offre una formulazione  più completa  e precisa. I Planetary Boundaries corrispondono a 9 aree operative (operating space) che l’umanità dovrebbe monitorare con regolarità, per continuare ad agire nel perimetro di salvaguardia ambientale e rispetto alle quali sono necessari interventi mirati al fine di perseguire uno sviluppo rispettoso della sostenibilità.

Si tratta cioè di limiti ambientali entro i quali l’umanità può operare in sicurezza, superati i quali possono verificarsi cambiamenti ambientali bruschi e irreversibili con gravi conseguenze. I 9 confini planetari sono:

1. Cambiamento climatico (limite già superato),
2. Cambiamento dell’integrità della biosfera – perdita di biodiversità ed estinzione di specie (limite già superato)
3. Esaurimento stratosferico dell’ozono, assottigliamento dello strato d’ozono
4. Acidificazione degli oceani
5. Flussi biogeochimici – cicli del fosforo e dell’azoto (limite già superato)
6. Cambiamento del sistema-terrestre, uso del suolo (limite già superato)
7. Disponibilità di acqua dolce
8. Carico di aerosol atmosferico (particelle microscopiche nell’atmosfera che influiscono sul clima e sugli organismi viventi)
9. Nuove entità (sostanze chimiche sintetiche, plastiche, pesticidi, antibiotici e altre molecole farmaceutiche “attive” – particelle con potenziali effetti geofisici e/o biologici indesiderati). Anche quest’ultimo limite è stato superato come evidenziato da un recente paper scientifico (gennaio 2022, “Outside the Safe Operating Space of the Planetary Boundary for Novel Entities”), che per primo ha stimato il superamento del limite consentito in termini di plastica, pesticidi, composti industriali e sostanze chimiche sintetiche.

Related resources

1+ The missing link of biodiversity: how to integrate nature into decision making >> WORKSHOP

Quantis Global Biodiversity Solutions & Strategy Lead, Edith Martin, and Absolute Sustainability Advisor, Marcial Vargas, held a workshop on integrating biodiversity impacts into decision-making for business resilience and long-term continuity. Despite big ambitions, most companies’ biodiversity initiatives are falling short, with a wide gap between targets and current progress. Edith and Marcial explored how to create effective strategies and action plans, starting with a comprehensive biodiversity impact assessment, for a science-based approach to tackling nature loss across value chains.

Catherine Zwahlen
Head of Digital Solutions, Quantis

Companies are increasingly looking to ecodesign as a way to promote circularity. Beauty brands have already joined forces to shape innovative packaging solutions across the industry, but not all sectors have had access to the right tools or insights to meet their needs. eQopack brings the necessary ecodesign expertise in-house.

Users of eQopack can input customized datasets and pick and choose the most relevant indicators for their business. From there, they’re able to calculate the footprint of any packaging solution, generate an environmental performance score and simulate different scenarios to bring down the pack’s impact. The tool includes 17 different environmental categories, like climate change and land and water use, and 8 packaging design indicators, including reusability, recycled content, pack-to-product weight ratio and more.

Digital tools like eQopack are changing the game for sustainable decision-making. Are you ready to embed ecodesign into your business’ packaging strategy? Let’s talk!

We’re in the midst of a plastics crisis that’s rapidly unfolding before us. In just 20 years, annual flows of plastic into the ocean are expected to triple on a ‘business-as-usual’ path, reaching 29 million metric tons by 2040. Businesses hold the power to change course. They need to address the issue by treating the source through measuring their plastic footprints and cutting the tap on plastic leakage. Last year, Quantis and EA launched the Plastic Leak Project (PLP) to help companies do just this. The new Guidelines launched today take PLP even further, providing a comprehensive approach to assessing plastic footprints and waste, and identifying actions within value chains (e.g. avoiding plastic or replacing it where environmentally sensible) to take responsibility for those impacts. They also guide companies to invest beyond their own value chains to address the plastic waste they cannot yet eliminate and communicate credibly along the way. 

We have the tools, now it’s time to use them. Let’s make 2021 the year we tackle plastic.

Q: What should companies do to ramp up this momentum?

EM: Businesses shouldn’t wait to see how these commitments play out — there’s a big opportunity here for corporate leadership and there’s no time to waste. We’re already seeing companies join forces to tackle biodiversity loss collectively, through initiatives like the Science Based Targets Network’s (SBTN) targets for nature, which provides guidance for companies on how to to set ambitious targets to tackle nature loss and encourages industry collaboration. As part of SBTN, Quantis advised on the initial guidance on nature-related metrics and expects methods to be released in 2021. We urge businesses to join the network to participate in industry-wide knowledge sharing — collaboration is key to scale our impact. 

At the same time, we recognize that a lot of companies aren’t sure how to get started or might not fully understand the risks.

Q: How can businesses get biodiversity-ready?

EM: The first step is to take stock and understand the role of biodiversity in their business and pinpoint where their company’s impacts truly lie with a biodiversity impact assessment. Many companies either don’t think they have an impact on biodiversity or misunderstand where their impacts are. They’re often surprised when they find out their hotpots aren’t necessarily where they would have guessed! From there, we can set appropriate targets and lay out an action plan to meet them. By breaking it down into steps and seeing how biodiversity fits into the bigger picture, it becomes much easier to tackle.

Ecotone is a great example of a food company we’ve worked with to help better understand, measure and rank their hotspots to be able to prioritize actions. Even as a company that is ahead in terms of its biodiversity journey, the results of the assessment surprised them! This really highlights why the impact assessment is such a critical first step.

Q: Sounds like biodiversity is set to stay on the global agenda this year. What should we expect next?

EM: We expect to see even more companies join the chorus of biodiversity commitments. The real challenge is to translate global goals and ambition into company-specific targets. The Science-Based Targets for Nature Initial Guidance for Business is a great place to start.

The Convention on Biological Diversity, or CBD COP 15, is expected to take place in May 2021 in Kunming, China after having been postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic. We’ll certainly be hearing more on the 30×30 commitment mentioned earlier. 

In the meantime, businesses need to put biodiversity front and center this year. We can’t afford to think about biodiversity as a “nice to have” — it goes hand-in-hand with business.

So, what do the report’s findings mean for business? Tackling the plastics problem requires companies to take a systems-level approach — stepping in at different stages of the life cycle — and look for additional ways to improve recycling rates when “reduce”, “reuse” and existing mechanical recycling aren’t possible. Chemical recycling technologies can be used to recycle mixed or contaminated plastic waste that would otherwise be incinerated or sent to landfill.

But before embracing new solutions such as these, companies need to ensure they align with their climate strategies and don’t simply shift negative impacts from one area of the value chain to another. This requires assessing the climate impact and trade-offs of potential solutions. Through providing a better view of the GHG emissions impacts of chemical recycling, Chemical Recycling: Greenhouse gas emission reduction potential of an emerging waste management route is a valuable first step in understanding its potential.

Tom Oldfield, PhD
AtSource Metric Manager

With demand for sustainable products on the rise, supply chain transparency has become a top priority for food and beverage companies. Olam partnered with Quantis to develop the Digital Footprint Calculator, a complement to AtSource, that converts agricultural and processing data into comprehensive insights on environmental impacts. It allows users to understand the environmental footprint of products across different supply chains and geographies from the farm-level up to the customer, empowering them with the data they need to identify hotspots and track progress on their sustainability targets.

Here’s what the judges had to say: “AtSource is a highly innovative and scalable plus well-established model that allows Olam’s customers – for the first time – to track the social and environmental footprint of a product from the farmer group, to their factory gate. It uses 150 economic, social and environmental metrics. Bringing transparency to what has been a rather opaque part of the commodity industry. Very much leading a new, sustainable path for their industry.”

Cheers to accelerating sustainable and transparent sourcing!

An intuitive tool to accelerate ecodesign innovation across the industry

Quantis and L’Oréal founded SPICE in 2018 with a vision to unite the cosmetics industry around a shared mission: to collectively shape the future of sustainable packaging. Now 25-members strong, the initiative meets regularly and works together to tackle the most pressing issues beauty and personal care companies face while trying to improve the environmental performance of their products’ packaging. One of the biggest challenges: embedding sustainability into the packaging development process. In other words, how to translate environmental footprinting metrics into actionable insights that can be used by packaging engineers to innovate on product designs that are better for the planet?

The SPICE Tool solves this challenge. This intuitive ecodesign tool calculates a holistic environmental footprint for any cosmetics packaging across the full lifecycle (from production to end-of-life), covering 16 environmental indicators that assess impacts on climate change as well as resource depletion, water use, biodiversity and more. The results are aggregated into a single score that supports benchmarking and decision-making.

To truly transform the beauty industry, we made sure the SPICE Tool is: 

• Environmentally robust, based on the comprehensive and science-driven SPICE methodology developed in 2019;
• Easy to use for packaging designers with varied levels of sustainability knowledge; and 
• Available to the whole industry, not exclusively to SPICE members. 

The Free version and Pro version of the SPICE Tool are both available on the SPICE website.

Best practices for determining recyclability and communicating to consumers

Alongside the Tool, SPICE has released best practice materials including a guide on recyclability (a decision tree defining whether or not a packaging is recyclable) and claims guidelines for when companies want to communicate credibly about their packaging’s environmental performance. Accurately communicating about packaging’s environmental attributes can strengthen the positive perception of cosmetic brands. The SPICE Claims Guidelines lay out guidance for how to do that credibly, establishing minimum requirements and strong recommendations for providing packaging sustainability information to consumers and other audiences. 

SPICE is convinced that the best way to go farther, faster on sustainability is by working openly together. The SPICE Tool, best practice materials and SPICE committee meeting notes are all available on Open-SPICE.com.

> Watch Absolute Zero: A climate strategy for business resilience
Quantis’ approach to climate strategy helps you build business resilience and maximize your potential contribution to the fight on climate change. Absolute Zero means going beyond managing incremental progress to mapping the scale of change needed across supply chains, in business models and product innovation. Watch Quantis and partners Microsoft + Gold Standard discuss the latest in science-based climate strategies during this GreenBiz webinar.

> Watch Let’s talk about climate strategy: How to shape effective narratives and engage your audiences
Carbon neutral, net zero, climate targets, footprint reductions … what do these words really mean? And why should your audiences really care? Effective communications are key to engaging audiences on your climate strategy — from getting internal buy-in and support to showing customers that your brand is taking action. Our partners GORE-TEX + Arla Foods join us to clarify key climate terms, share insights for effectively engaging internal teams (even virtually!), and explore how a clear narrative can add deeper meaning for customers and consumers.

> Watch Natural Climate Solutions: Tap into the Opportunities
Forests, agriculture, soils and land have been recognized as key levers in mitigating the negative impacts of climate change. Tune in to hear how leading companies are working collaboratively to deploy natural climate solutions that reduce climate impacts, assess strategic opportunities, mitigate risks and develop strong partnerships across their supply chains. Quantis + Barry Callebaut + WRI share insights on this webinar hosted by GreenBiz.

> Read Destination net zero: how to build a credible neutrality strategy
We wrote this net zero article to ring in Super Year 2020 — “the year that could change it all” for sustainability. It has indeed been a world-turned-upside-down kind of year, though in ways we could not have predicted. What is clear is that businesses have never been more aware of their need to build more resilience in the face of global risks such as the climate crisis. This article lays out what you need to know about building a climate neutrality strategy that is credible and science-driven.

> Read Dig In: A landscape of business actions to cultivate a sustainable and resilient food system
Transformation of the food system is the strongest lever we have to limit global warming to 1.5°C by 2030. We’ve packed our 10+ years of expertise in food sustainability into the Dig In Food Report to give sustainability managers, executives and key corporate decision-makers a high-level vision of today’s most pressing challenges and solutions in the food sector. Kevin Rabinovitch, Global VP of Sustainability at Mars Incorporated, called it “a must-read map for your sustainability journey.” Bon appetit!

Nature is everyone’s business.

Today, Quantis joins more than 560 companies with combined revenue of $4 trillion including Walmart, Citigroup, Microsoft, JD.com, Hitachi, IKEA, Unilever, Axa, Mahindra Group and H&M Group to urge governments to adopt policies now to reverse nature loss in this decade. This Call to Action facilitated by Business for Nature is the first time so many businesses have stepped forward with the ambition of influencing discussions in the run up to delivering a Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. 

Government policies to reverse nature loss would help create a level playing field and unlock new business opportunities, but leading companies understand that they cannot wait for these policies before taking action. The sooner they begin shifting business models to align with the Earth’s capacity, the more resilient they will be. Many have already made commitments to reverse nature loss, and need a framework to define the level of ambition required for their company to do at least its fair share. This week, that framework has arrived.

Science-based guidance for businesses to tackle the nature crisis

Quantis partnered with the Science Based Targets Network to develop the first business-oriented guidance on “Science-Based Targets for Nature Initial Guidance for Business.” The initial guidance on SBTs for Nature guides companies to define their environmental strategy if they want their business to operate within planetary boundaries. In the same way that the Science Based Targets initiative translated the global 1.5 degrees climate goal into actionable GHG reduction targets, SBTs for Nature are expected to set the scientific standard for companies’ sustainability strategies on other Earth systems including biodiversity, land, water and oceans. This first public draft lays out the level of ambition expected and gives companies the elements they need to begin preparing their next set of environmental commitments. 

Launching SBTs for Nature is a massive step for corporate sustainability strategies aligned with science. We’re excited to have contributed to this trail-blazing project to protect and restore nature, and look forward to working together with our partners to set targets that will drive the solutions our planet needs. 

Let’s get to work!

Taking ambitious climate action

Building business resilience and maximizing an organization’s potential contribution to the fight on climate change starts with an ambitious, science-driven climate strategy that goes beyond setting relative sustainability targets for incremental improvements.

> Check out the webinar: Absolute Zero: A climate strategy for business resilience

> Watch the Ready > Set > Go Beyond webinar series

Harnessing the power of natural climate solutions

Forests, agriculture, soils and land are key levers in mitigating the negative impacts of climate change. Now it’s time to harness the power of nature to reach our critical climate goals.

> Tune into the webinar: Natural Climate Solutions: Tap into the opportunities

> Download the Accounting for Natural Climate Solutions Guidance

> Read: Natural Climate Solutions: How 4 global companies leverage nature to tackle the climate crisis

Transforming the food system

Transformation of the food system is one of the strongest levers we have to keep global temperature rise to the 1.5˚C cap and #MovetheDate of Earth Overshoot Day back.

What are the most important levers of change in the food system?

• Tackling land-use change and deforestation
• Digging in to soil health and regenerative agriculture
• Addressing food loss and waste from farm to fork
• Innovating product lines to include more plant-based goods

> Download the DIG IN Food Report

To better support agri-food companies’ decision-making and accelerate the transition to a more resilient food system, the World Food LCA Database Phase 3 project will focus on three strategic objectives:

• Increase the granularity of existing datasets by introducing various farming practices and supply chain interventions
• Continue to fill in data gaps for a representative coverage of the food value chain
• Maintain, update and improve datasets developed in Phases 1 and 2

Joining Quantis on this three-year collaborative initiative are 7 corporate partners including  General Mills, Mars Incorporated, Nestlé, The Coca Cola Company, PepsiCo, and Unilever, as well as Control Union Certifications.

Shaping a sustainable future for cosmetics

SPICE is working collectively to make significant progress in different areas:

1. Comprehensive and scientific footprinting methodology
2. Proof of concept through case studies
3. User-friendly eco-design tool for decision-making 
4. Multi-indicator and sector-specific environmental database
5. Environmental claims guidance for credible communications 

In 2018, L’Oréal and Quantis launched SPICE, a pre-competitive initiative that now includes 24 global cosmetics brands and organizations along the packaging value chain. Together, SPICE members co-create methodologies and tools to drive the future of sustainable packaging for cosmetics.

In 2019, SPICE delivered a comprehensive, science-driven, publicly-available methodology for assessing the environmental impact of cosmetics packaging across a product’s life cycle. This methodology empowers teams in cosmetics companies to accelerate sustainable transformation by producing relevant and robust environmental footprints. 

In 2020, the Initiative is developing a tool to evaluate the environmental impact of packaging. The tool will be unveiled in the coming months.

Stay tuned for more!

Dimitri joined our team of creative geeks in Lausanne in 2009 and has proven himself as a sustainability analyst, consultant and then Director of Quantis France. His embodiment of the Quantis Spirit and his passion for sustainability is matched only by an avid enthusiasm for sailing. Shortly after joining Quantis, Dimitri led an expedition around the globe to raise awareness for the environment. The tour took him to 21 countries in over 21 months, and inspired the creation of his book, “100 pionniers pour la planète” (100 Pioneers for the Planet).

“I’m honored to lead our entire team and our mission at Quantis. We have achieved great transformation over the past years with Emmanuelle and I look forward to bringing a fresh new dynamic and vision to our people and the work we do. I’ve always been energized by connections — connecting great people or even connecting problems with solutions so we can make a bigger impact at Quantis to build a sustainable future,” explains Dimitri. 

“It’s not the moment to slow down on sustainability. 2020 is not canceled. It can still be the year that opens up the decade of change. Together, we must design a new world, one where businesses operate within our planet’s boundaries and elevate our social fabric,” he adds.

Strengthening our crew

We’ve also been busy strengthening our crew to prepare for the decade of change that lies ahead. Since the start of the year, we’ve added some great new talents to our Consulting, Talent, Administration & Finance, Communication & Engagement Services, Marketing and Digital Solutions teams.

To support Dimitri in taking Quantis’ ambition and mission to the next level, we have filled and shifted some key strategic roles across the Quantis ecosystem.

Anne Désérable will step into the role of Director, Quantis France to lead our Paris-based team. Stateside, Sarah Beaubien will transition from Head of Western US to Director, Quantis US, replacing Bryan Sheehan, and will welcome five new Quantisians to reinforce our presence in the US. In Berlin, we’re thrilled to welcome Ivo Mersiowsky as Director, Quantis Germany.

We’ve also created new roles, headed up by senior consultants within Quantis, to bolster our global services and further our impact. We couldn’t be happier to have Annabelle Stamm as Director, Client Relations, Charlotte Bande as Global Head of Climate Strategy, and Gregory Simonnin leading Quantis’ Corporate Footprint Services. 

On behalf of all Quantis, we thank those who will be pursuing other professional adventures: Emmanuelle Aoustin for her leadership and commitment during a critical time of transformation at Quantis and for Bryan Sheehan for both his integrity and impact  at Quantis US. See the press release for more thoughts from these Quantis alumni. 

It’s an exciting time at Quantis. With a strong crew and new captain, we’re ready to navigate and lead the way toward a more resilient future.

Climate change, lifestyle trends emphasizing health and well-being and shifting stakeholder expectations around sustainability are changing the face of beauty. To successfully navigate these new dynamics and thrive in an increasingly resource-constrained world, cosmetics and personal care brands will need to step up and demonstrate leadership on sustainability and transparency. The good news is: there is already a strong desire in the industry to make strides in sustainability. What brands need now to accelerate action are the insights, tools and solutions that will help them transition to a sustainable business model.

We created Make Up the Future to help meet this need. It features insights and analysis from our sustainable cosmetics experts, informative infographics, case studies and concrete examples from sustainability leaders in beauty, including Beautycounter, Chanel Fragrance & Beauty, Coty, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., Groupe Rocher, L’Oréal, French Federation for Beauty Companies (Fédération des Entreprises de la Beauté – FEBEA) and the Personal Care Products Council.

The report demonstrates how science-driven action across three levels —  industry, corporate and product — will shape a resilient future for cosmetics. Make Up the Future also shares the first estimates of the industry’s environmental footprint, shedding light on the key areas where innovative and science-backed solutions can lead to significant impact reduction. The report’s insights and analysis will empower sustainability managers, corporate decision-makers and their teams to:

• Prioritize efforts and resources on the topics that will make a meaningful difference;
• Collect high-quality, consistent and representative data to better understand environmental impacts across the value chain;
• Identify opportunities for collaboration and innovation within companies and across the industry;
• Set bold environmental goals that will lay the foundation of resilience in a resource-constrained world; and
• Accelerate industry-wide action.

WEBINAR JUNE 10: Hear from Quantis, L’Oréal and other sustainability leaders in beauty as they explore the collective and individual brand actions that shape  a resilient  future for cosmetics . Register for the WEBINAR: Make Up the Future: Beauty leaders share how science-based actions can positively change the industry’s image and its impact.

Plastic pollution is a growing risk for businesses. Companies face growing pressure from investors, consumers and increasingly governments to take urgent action toward a circular model of plastics management. Until now, they have lacked clear, reliable data and methods to translate their plastic commitments into actions with measurable and tangible impact. As a result, many of the policies and efforts to date have been based on best guesses rather than science; and therefore, don’t get to the root causes of plastic pollution.

The result of a yearlong collaboration within the Plastic Leak Project, the Guidelines enable businesses at all stages to calculate and report estimates of plastic and microplastic leakage. With a plastic leakage assessment, companies can locate hotspots, estimate the amount of leakage, and identify the factors contributing to the leakage across their value chains.

It’s a valuable tool for sustainability managers, corporate decision-makers, R&D teams, product and packaging designers, marketing teams and supply chain managers to:

• develop plastics strategies, 
• define priorities and targeted actions,
• improve product design efforts,
• identify value chain innovations,
• track progress and 
• communicate credibly about the environmental performance of products and the business as a whole

The methodology is applicable across sectors ranging from agri-food and apparel to cosmetics, shipping and beyond, to assess plastic leakage linked to transport, textiles, plastic products and packaging, and plastic pellets.

Join the webinar 

Want to learn more about this exciting new resource? Join Quantis, IUCN, Sympatex and Arla Foods for the WEBINAR: Tackling plastic pollution – introducing science-driven guidelines to address plastic leakage in corporate value chains on April 2nd to present the PLP guidelines and outline how businesses can leverage them to drive effective plastic pollution strategies.